Pacers News: Expert Reveals Ideal Trade Fits for Struggling Indiana

Although the Indiana Pacers secured a 121-107 blowout win against the lowly Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night, the club remains four games below a .500 record, and a middling 5-5 across their last 10 bouts.

At 11-15, the Pacers presently occupy the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, though they're tied by record with the No. 9-seeded Chicago Bulls, and just 0.5 games ahead of the No. 10-seeded Brooklyn Nets. The 10-16 Detroit Pistons, the No. 11 seed, are nipping at Brooklyn's heels with a 10-16 record. The 7-16 Philadelphia 76ers are themselves just two games behind Brooklyn for a play-in spot, despite a miserable start. With new injuries to All-Star center Joel Embiid and Rookie of the Year contender Jared McCain incurred during that Indiana game, it seems possible that Philadelphia could slide back again. McCain tore the lateral meniscus in his right knee and will undergo a surgery, per Shams Charania of ESPN. Embiid suffered a fractured sinus.

Brooklyn, however, is already looking to tank. Charania reports that the Golden State Warriors are acquiring starting Nets point guard Dennis Schröder and a second round draft pick in exchange for three second rounders and the expiring contract of shooting guard De'Anthony Melton, who's done for the year following an ACL surgery.

Indiana has already been active at making in-season moves this year, following a pair of season-ending injuries of its own. Backup centers Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman are both out for all of 2024-25 after suffering Achilles tendon tears. The Pacers first responded by signing 7-foot-2 G League standout Moses Brown. Indiana eventually waived Brown. It's ben reported that Indiana is set to trade for floor-spacing Miami Heat deep-bench big man Thomas Bryant once he becomes eligible on Sunday.

But should that be the last move the Pacers make this year, if they want to return to the Eastern Conference Finals this spring — or even go beyond that?

Per Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Indiana could benefit most from adding a big guard or wing to shore up its play along the perimeter.

"The Pacers are again terrible defensively and on the glass, where as of this writing they rank 29th and 26th in the NBA, respectively," Vardon writes. "They have Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner (probably in that order) as the likely three pieces they won’t change (unless they can move Turner), and Andrew Nembhard and Bennedict Mathurin are about the same size, in the 6-5, 6-6 range."

Vardon goes on to detail why the Nembhard-Mathurin tandem is dicey on the perimeter for the Pacers.

"So long as the two are playing together, the Pacers are going to be undersized on the wing — bad when considering the team is not strong defensively overall," Vardon continues. "Nembhard has been limited to 11 games due to injury, and in that small sample size, he’s seen a massive regression to his statistical mean after exploding last season in the playoffs."

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